M & M Summary of Responses

The mission and ministry committee is grateful to you all for taking the time and effort to answer the questions about where God is calling this community. Here is a summary of what you had to say ..

MISSION & MINISTRY

SUMMARIES OF RESPONSES TO THE QUESTIONS

Where is God Calling us in the area of….

Worship

Parishioners are by and large content with the central worship services as they are.

We value consistency in our worship practices.

This congregation loves music, and greatly appreciates the choir and music director. More opportunities to sing and to have music in the 10 o’clock service are welcome.

There were some requests for more modern hymnody, more well-known hymns, more canting.

There is interest in offering other worship services, such as Night Prayer (compline), evening prayer (evensong), Taizé services.

There is a desire for younger people to attend our worship services.

We are curious and would like to learn more about our liturgy, about our music, and about the Bible.

Pastoral care

The strong message that resonates in the responses is the desire to have All Saints as a caring community, and a desire to strengthen that caring.

Many positive comments were made about the Buddy Program and Health Ministry, but people were unsure about what is currently happening about providing support for those in need. A theme of building a more effective caring community with better communication and a larger core of carers came through.

Teaching the faith

Responses were unanimously positive that the TEACHING THE FAITH agenda is meeting needs and should continue. However, it was also suggested that the teaching events should be increased and made more available through printed summaries, and perhaps arranging for rides to church might be helpful.

The suggestion was made that teachings could broaden to include other faiths and that our own faith might be helped by refresher programmes on the creeds and the Catechism.

Something to encourage newcomers might be BIBLE STUDY FOR THE CURIOUS.

Feeding God’s people

General satisfaction with the feeding and fellowship we are presently providing and with the Community meal in particular. The next step is expansion but there is recognition we are an aging parish and have limited ability to expand without help. Suggestions that we work with other churches and or community groups with the goal of weekly meals and other possible uses of our upgraded facility.

Nurturing young families

Alongside an appreciation for Messy Church was a clear yearning for finding ways to better connect with people younger than our general Sunday congregations, especially young families.

Suggestions had several clear themes:

Social - that we need to find social settings like coffee mornings to provide a venue for young families to meet.

Worship – we need to explore different styles of worship, ones which would have more connection with younger people. (No suggestion that our current formats should disappear)

Communications – find better ways to communicate with young families, finding out what they want, and letting them know what is happening.

Communications

There was an almost overwhelming response that indicates that the construction of a revised/new website that is locally managed is a priority. This website needs to be attractive and should be more informative about the people of All Saints’, the activities and services offered by the church. There is a need to use more technology by subscribing to the various appropriate social media sites – the means by which many younger people get their information. Information also needs to be continued both verbally and written. The congregation is seeking better and more timely information on upcoming activities, both religious and secular. All this is seen as reaching within and outside the “walls” of All Saints to the community of Ladner and beyond.

An upgrade to the weekly service bulletin would be welcome.

There is a need to establish who we are communicating with and what we are communicating.